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Faunsdale, AL | There’s no test on live animal. It can be done on humans by a biopsy in late stage disease, but health department will only test brain of dog or wild animal sometimes. Cost of the test is way less than cost of rabies post exposure prophylaxis.
Public health law in most states is that an unvaccinated dog or one whose vaccination status is unknown, must either be euthanized and the brain tested or be confined for 10 days either at a veterinary facility or if everyone agrees, in the case of a pet, at the owners home. If the dog shows signs of rabies before 10 days after the bite, the person is deemed to have been exposed and is started on post exposure prophylaxis. If dog remains healthy, the person does not need the rabies preventative treatments which cost megabucks these days. The treatments are not without some risk, so you don’t want to get them if you don’t have to, but at the same time, rabies is like the resurrection of Christ, only one person is known to have recovered.
A vaccinated dog that bites someone is deemed to be much less of a problem at least as far as rabies is concerned but still should be observed for 10 days minimum. There have been cases of rabies in recently vaccinated pets, so while the second after the needle is pulled out of the dog, it’s deemed to be vaccinated as far as the law is concerned, medically, we know that vaccine is not protective for a few weeks minimum and will not stop the progression of an already existent rabies infection.
Rabies virus is innoculated into the body by a bite or scratch usually and invades nerves in that area. It slowly travels along the nerves toward the spinal cord and finally the brain. The process may take as long as months if the bite was on a hand or foot simply due to the length of nerves that separate the bite site from the brain. If a person is bitten on the face or neck, the incubation period is expected to be much shorter and administration of post exposure prophylaxis is more of an emergency. The treatments are able to stop the progression of the virus before it reaches the brain or maybe spinal cord. After the brain is affected death is almost inevitable.
A call to the local health department, a veterinary clinic or a physician should start that process and access information and resources that you need. In any event you want to seek treatment for the bite!
Edited by ccjersey 4/14/2025 09:40
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Dog bite
